"Brilliant and
moving, a masterpiece
about the fragility of human nature."

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski's ("Blind Chance"/"A
Short Film
About Love"/"The Double Life of Veronique") 10-hour Polish television
serial
based on The Ten Commandments. Kieslowski is cowriter with Krzysztof
Piesiewicz.
It's brilliant and moving, a masterpiece about the fragility of human
nature.

Christmas fills the bill for the Sabbath in this third
installment
of Krzysztof Kieslowski's take on the Ten Commandments for Polish TV.
It's
Christmas Eve in Warsaw and the family man, cabbie Janusz (Daniel
Olbrychski),returns home dressed as Santa Claus. In a traditional
celebration
he gives presents to his two children and loving wife Zona (Joanna
Szczepowska).
He then attends alone the Midnight Mass and spots without meeting there
his ex-mistress from three years ago Ewa (Maria Pakulnis). Back home he
receives a call from Ewa to help her search the streets for her missing
husband Edward Garus. Janusz lies to his wife by telling her about his
taxi being stolen. For the rest of the night the anxiety-driven Ewa
leads
Janusz around a wild goose chase across town and under various pretexts
keeps him with her until 7 a.m., supposedly so she wouldn't be alone on
Christmas Eve. The affair ended three years ago after Edward on a phone
tip caught them in the act, but he left Ewa anyway after making her
promise
not to see her lover again and is now a family man living in
Krakow.

Kieslowski shows that the festive and holy Christmas Eve
could also
be a cruel night for those who are lonely and despondent, and that
despite
the religious nature of the holiday there seems to be an absence of
charity
and reaching out to the unfortunate.

Anka (Adrianna Biedrynska) is a 20-year-old acting student
raised
by her kindly widowed architect father, Michal (Janusz Gajos), ever
since
her mom died when she was only 5 days old. When dad goes on one of his
frequent business trips during the Easter holiday, he leaves behind in
the open for the first time a sealed envelope marked "not to be opened
before my death." Three days later Anka opens it and it reveals that
Michal
is not her biological father. This causes a new twist in their close
relationship.
Even though she has a boyfriend, Jarek (Artur Barcis), she has always
felt
a desire for Michal and now finds out that he feels the same. The two
must
struggle to relate with each other in a new way after this startling
revelation,
as Kieslowski deftly deals with incestuous urges and all its
implications.